


safe in the arms of love

by hope27



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Post-episode fic, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-02-19
Packaged: 2018-03-13 18:10:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3391229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hope27/pseuds/hope27
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity puts a tracker in Oliver's shoe when he goes to Lian Yu with Thea.  She just needs to know that he's safe...</p>
            </blockquote>





	safe in the arms of love

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Because this is my life now apparently, writing post-episode fics. Sigh. These two and their chemistry.
> 
> This one was hard for me for some reason. But I wanted to explore Felicity’s perspective of Oliver being gone and then well…you know…they decided they wanted to see each other. Sigh. When characters write your fic.
> 
> As always, I’d LOVE to know what you think! It means a lot to me!

She told herself she wasn’t doing it for any other reason than the team deserved to know where he was this time.  

Or at least that’s what she kept muttering to herself as she stuck the last of four trackers into his shoes that he’d taken off before hitting the shower.  

She kept one in his Arrow boots at all times.  This was no different...except it was.  

She just...she _needed_ to know.  

She didn’t tell the rest of the team, but John caught her looking at the tracker the first night he was gone in the Foundry.   She leveled him with a look rivaling her loud voice, and he wisely said nothing.  

Before he left, he put a hand on her shoulder and whisper, “He’s going to be okay.  He’s survived this place before.”

She swallowed, letting her eyes flutter shut as she dropped her chin to her chest, trying hard to believe that.

When the door closed behind him, she took off her glasses and scrubbed her hands over tired eyes.

He’d only been gone 12 hours.

She told herself she wouldn’t check it often.  Every few hours to make sure he was alive.  It was set to alert her if it stopped moving for an over-extended period of time or if something happened to it.

When she woke that night, her sheets twisted around her legs, his name on her lips as she watched him bleed out at her feet, she pulled up the app on her phone and stared at the strong signal until her eyelids grew heavy again.

Thea had one too - only she’d just flat out asked the younger Queen to put it in her shoe.  Thea had given her a raised eyebrow before finally nodding. 

“I get it,” she told her.  “You need to make sure he stays alive.”

“I need to make sure you _both_ stay alive,” Felicity corrected, and Thea surprised her with a swift hug.

“Thank you.”

Work kept her busy, but she found herself thumbing to the app during one of her conference calls, a frown creasing her brow when she noticed them in the ARGUS prison.

Without preamble, she’d excused herself from the meeting and called Digg.

They were both at the Foundry within fifteen minutes and Felicity had satellite images of the island pulled up on her computer.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched not two but three warmth signals running through the forests of Lian Yu.

“He escaped…”

Digg shook his head, voice grim and angry.  “He didn’t escape.  This has Merlyn written all over it.”

“We have to help him,” Felicity began, but Digg was already on his phone, calling Lyla.

Pulling her lower lip into her mouth, she watched as the three dots came together.  She stood from her chair so suddenly that she heard it hit the metal table across the room.

Digg was at her side in seconds, watching the screens with her.  The satellite feeds were grainy and shorting, but she watched with rapt attention as Slade fought both Queens.

And before Digg could even get ARGUS to do anything, it was over.

She watched the dot on her tracker labeled with OLIVER slowly walk to THEA.  

Looking down, she saw that she was gripping the edge of the desk, her knuckles white and she closed her eyes and let out a deep breath.

“Okay, come home, Oliver,” she murmured.

Diggle rolled her chair back over to her and she sank down into it.  

Two hours later, she got a text from him.  “Heading home.  We’re okay.”

The knot of worry in her chest eased and she focused on finishing her scans for the night before packing up and heading to her awaiting warm bed.

She had just settled in to watch something on her DVR, comfy in her nesting doll pajama pants and grey t-shirt when there was a knock on her door.

Frowning, she slipped off her couch and into her panda slippers.  

As she peaked out the peephole, her breath caught in her throat and she quickly undid the lock, pulling the door open wide.

“Oliver…”

“Hey…” he greeted softly, tilting his head to the side as he stood awkwardly in her doorway, hands shoved in deep in his pockets.

“You’re back…” her proclivity for words was failing her because for all the fear and worry she’d felt the past two days, Oliver and her were still on uneven ground when it came to the two of them and their relationship, or lack of one.

“Yeah…” he cleared his throat, “Things got...complicated.”

“I know.  That really must not be a great prison as far as island prisons go...” she muttered, sighing and he quirked an eyebrow at her as her cheeks grew red.

She watched as he pulled one of his hands from his pocket, and her mouth opened when she saw the small tracker she’d planted in his shoes.

Her eyes met his over the brim of her glasses, challenging him to be upset with her.

Instead, he handed it back to her, his voice warm and soft.  “Always good to know my partner has my back.”

Her eyes fluttered closed as his fingertips brushed the palm of her hand, and for a moment, both of them froze, lingering in that barest of touches.  Felicity felt the pull of him, her emotions swirling beneath the wall she’d tried to create that night in the alley when she’d walked away from his dangling maybes.

But it wasn’t that simple.  Nothing was that simple with Oliver.

Especially since her heart was so invested, and completely involved.

The wind picked up, she remembered for the first time that they were still standing in her doorway.

Flicking her eyes back to his, she saw the weariness behind the bright blue - the way circles underneath.

Stepping back, she silently invited him in, and he shut the door behind them, locking it as she drew further into her apartment.

She didn’t ask, she simply walked to her kitchen and poured them both glasses of water.  Handing one to him, she took a seat on the couch, motioning for him to join her as he stood imposingly in her small townhouse.

“How was it?” she finally asked, breaking the silence as she clasped her glass with both hands, knees drawn up to her chin.

Oliver’s sank into the cushions, his neck falling back as he scrubbed his hands over his face.

“I told myself and him that I never wanted to see him again...and then I was there in his cell…” Oliver began, his voice gruff and tired.

“Merlyn did it, didn’t he?” Felicity blurted out, anger rising at the mention of the man who had done nothing but cause problem after problem for them. 

She watched as Oliver tensed at the mention of his name, and she knew it was because of the conversation they shared when he returned.

Slowly, he raised his head and turned to look at her with so much regret and hurt in his eyes that she itched to reach out to him.  Instead, she curled her hands tighter around her glass.

“Yeah.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but he spoke first, stunning her with his next words.

“Thea knows.”

Felicity froze, gaze locking on to his and she knew exactly what he meant, the agony in his eyes propelling her forward.

“She asked me and I couldn’t...I _couldn’t_ lie to her anymore…” he ground out, shaking his head, and reliving the moment.

“The look in her eyes…” he trailed off, raking his hands through his hair, venom rising in his voice as he continued.  “I hate that we need him.  That we have to work with him.  He took something from her...he took a piece of her soul that she can never get back, Felicity…”

He lifted his head and searched out her eyes, and her heart flipped in her chest at the sight of him so devastated for his sister.

Shifting closer to him, she reached out a hand to catch one of his, her breath catching at how quickly he latched on to her fingers, encasing her small hand in his.

“She’s strong, Oliver,” she whispered, “Like her brother.  But I’m glad she knows.”

Squeezing her hand, Oliver nodded, and she was suddenly acutely aware of the way the pads of his fingers were running soft, slow circles over the back of her hand.  She wondered if he even realized he was doing it.

Somehow they’d ended up next to each other on the couch, her knees pressed into his thigh, hands linked and Felicity sucked in a deep breath at the emotions flooding through her.

She’d been trying so hard to keep them at bay, to push them away even.  He’d made it clear where he stood when he returned from facing Ra’s al Ghul, but moments like this made that decision almost unbearable.

Quiet moments where it was just them, addressing their problems and fears together, talking about their days - as unconventional as they might be.  It was them, and it felt so right.  

It was everything she wanted.  This.  Right here.   _Them_.

Her heart fluttered in her chest and she knew she needed to say something, get her mind off the treacherous waters she was wading into in her mind.

“So Slade is all locked away again where he can’t cause any more damage...at least not to anything other than a metal cot?” she asked, hoping her voice sounded normal, but knowing it was more breathy than usual.

Oliver’s eyes slid over her face, and she knew she wasn’t the only one affected.

“Yeah,” he murmured, and she could see the dark shadow that passed over his eyes as he got lost in a memory.

Using her hand in his, she tugged gently, bringing him back, tilting her head to the side.  “What happened?”

He opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it again.  She waited, unconsciously letting her thumb drag a soft circle over his pulse point.

Finally, Oliver spoke.  “He asked about you,” he said, voice almost as deep as it was with the modulator.  “And for a split second...I thought about ending it all right there.  No more threats against the people I love...no more maybes…”

“But you didn’t,” she finished for him, her lips twisting upwards in a sad smile.

“No,” he states evenly.  “But, I swea,r if he tries to come after you, Felicity…”

His admission startled her, and suddenly they were ten steps forward instead of twenty steps back and she held her breath as his eyes roamed her face in the dim artificial light of her living room.

“Oliver…” his name was barely a whisper on her lips but she couldn’t help it. 

He kept saying things that make it almost impossible for her to move on; to want to move on.  He’s not in but he’s not out, and her heart is definitely not out.  Because for all the close calls and the near deaths and the ‘i want to but I can’t’s...’ that they’ve faced, her heart was his and she knows his was hers.

And that’s why this was impossible.  This limbo they were stuck in, and she couldn’t do it anymore.  It was too hard.  Her heart couldn’t take it.

Closing her eyes, she started to shake her head, not realizing the tears were falling before she stood and moved away from him.

“You can’t...I can’t...we can’t keep doing this!” she finally managed, her voice getting louder with each word.

“Dammit, Oliver!” she cried, “What do you want?”

He was standing before she could blink, his own frustration littering his face as he closed the distance between them again.

“You!” he bit out, firm and demanding and she watched stunned as his face fell and it was left with nothing but honesty and want and everything in between.  “You are all I want.”

“Then you have to be willing to take it!  You have to be willing to let yourself have it!  I can’t keep doing this…” she told him, hands waving back and forth in between them.  

“What do _you_ want Felicity?” he asked cutting her off, eyes wild and causing heat to spread throughout her body.

A laugh bubbled up from deep inside of her because she was sure there was no way he couldn’t know this answer.  He had to know that she wanted him, had wanted him, for so long…

But it quickly dissipated as she looked into his blue eyes and saw something akin to fear at her response.

“Oh, Oliver…” she murmured before stepping up to him, using the edges of his leather jacket to hoist herself up his body and press her lips to his.

She felt him still beneath her hands for seconds and then it was like the floodgates opened and he stepped into her, one arm banding about her waist and lifting her off her feet while the other dove into her hair, angling her head to deepen the kiss.

Her tongue swept along his lower lip and a growl stuttered up from deep in his chest, making a delicious heat unfurl in her belly.

His tongue tangled with hers, gentle, even strokes that made her dizzy with want and yet warm, and safe, and loved.

As they pulled back, she planted a soft, chaste kiss against his lips before asking, slightly out of breath, “Does that answer your question?”

Her breasts push into his hard chest with each labored breath she pulls into her lungs as his eyes lighten and darken at the same time.

The words tumble out before she can stop them and for once she found she didn’t want to stop them.  

“I want you, Oliver Queen.  All of you.  Not just the Oliver side of you, but the Arrow side too.  I want the broody, stubborn, ridiculously attractive idiot who risks his life every night to protect this city.  I want all of you.  Every single part.  Especially the muscle-y parts...those are really good...”

Her words trailed off as she realized he was flat out grinning at her, his face beaming down at her as he held her to him - literally.

For all his brooding ways and growly voices, Oliver Queen had one of the best smiles she’d ever seen.  The one she loved the most.

And she couldn’t help but answer it with one of her own.

“I love you,” she whispered, looking up at him, shaking her head, and she saw him pause, eyes widening and the look in them caused her heart to break and soar at the same time.

But before she could completely react to it, he was kissing her again, his lips covering hers in a soft, tantalizing kiss that made her moan as he pulled away.

“That’s going to need to become an everyday occurrence...maybe an hourly occurrence…” she muttered, blinking her eyes open to see a beaming Oliver Queen.

“I think we can work that out,” he murmured, dropping his forehead to hers before burying his head against her shoulder.

And for the first time in month, Felicity didn’t feel like she was falling with no safety net, tumbling down into a dark abyss.  Finally, the free fall had stopped and she’d landed safely in the arms of love.   

All the muscle-y goodness included.


End file.
